Casey Kasem Lebanese American Became the Voice of Rock ‘n’ Roll

In the noisy world of rock ‘n’

roll, Casey Kasem didn’t have

to scream, and he was heard

more than any other disc jockey.

“He was a great communica-

tor,” said Howard Kramer, cura-

torial director of the Rock and

Roll Hall of Fame and Museum

in Cleveland, Ohio. “That’s the

mastery of great DJs, their ability

to communicate and make a con-

nection, through their voice and

their persona that they create,

with the listener. That’s essen-

tially dead today.”

The American-born

son of Lebanese

Druze immigrants,

Kasem gained

popu la r i t y

along with

the music

he played,

first on

radio sta-

tions in

one city after

another and

then in the

syndicated

American

Top 40

s h o w

heard nationwide; he retired in

2009. He was the first disc jockey

elected to the National Association

of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

Marc Fisher, author of

Something in the Air: Radio,

Rock, and the Revolution that

Shaped a Generation, said that

although Kasem was based in

Los Angeles, his “real appeal

was between the coasts.”

Starting in 1970, when U.S. radio

stations were strictly local opera-

tions, American Top 40 “was the

one piece of very glitzy, profes-

sional, well-produced radio that

would appear” on hundreds of

small-town stations. And Kasem’s

“very palatable, genial style” was

welcome everywhere, Fisher said.

On each week’s program — at first

three hours, then four — Kasem

would count down the 40 most

popular songs in Billboard maga-

zine’s “Hot 100 Singles” chart. He

would introduce songs with trivia

about the artists and behind-the-

scenes looks at their lives, a novelty

that Fisher said helped make the

musicians celebrities. He would

read listeners’ letters and “long-

distance dedications” for songs on

the air.

“The part of the program that

was most distinctive was these

long-distance dedications, where

he was able to spin these very

dramatic, emotional stories out

of the requests that people made

to far-flung loved ones and espe-

cially folks in the military who

were overseas who were writing

to him so that their girlfriends

back home might hear their dedi-

cations,” Fisher said. “Kasem

had a real knack for telling their

stories in a very affecting way. I

think those were the heart of the

show, in many ways.”

Kasem, Fisher added, also had a

“very distinctive, terrific voice.

It was instantly recognizable,

which is why he became a very

sought-after voiceover artist.” (To

hear Kasem’s style, listen to it on

YouTube.)

Kasem developed other shows

to capture different segments

of the audience. Unlike other

announcers, Kasem “was quite

the entrepreneur himself,”

Fisher said, “definitely the pro-

ducer of the show as well as

the voice.”

Embassy of the United States of America PROMINENT ARAB AMERICANS

Casey Kasem accepts a radio icon award during the Radio Music Awards in 2003, in Las Vegas. Photos © AP Images

Radio Broadcaster

Rashid Abdu, Physician

Ahmed Ahmed, Comedian

Moustapha Akkad, Film Director

Michael DeBakey, Heart Surgeon

Farouk El-Baz, Geologist

Gaida, Singer

Kahlil Gibran, Artist and Poet

Joseph Haiek, Publisher

Salma Hayek, Actress

Casey Kasem, Radio Broadcaster

DJ Khaled, Rap Music Artist

Khalid Khannouchi, Marathon Runner

Ferial Masry, Community Activist

Christa McAuliffe, Teacher in Space

Naomi Shihab Nye, Author

Ameen Rihani, Poet

Edward Said, Author and Activist

Kareem Salama, Singer

Betty Shamieh, Playwright

Rashida Tlaib, Politician

Elias Zerhouni, Medical Vanguard

Ahmed Zewail, Chemist

Prominent Arab Americans

U N I T E D S TA T E S D E P A R T M E N T O F S TA T EB U R E A U O F I N T E R N A T I O N A L I N F O R M A T I O N P R O G R A M S

Prominent Arab Americans Featured in This Series

El-Baz

Gaida

DeBakey

Akkad

Abdu

Ahmed

Gibran

Haiek

Khaled

Rihani

Shamieh

Shihab Nye

Kasem

Zewail

McAuliffe

Said

Zerhouni

Masry

Hayek

Tlaib

Khannouchi

Salama

Published May, 2012